Love Fool
by some blue december
Summary: Three toxic words change everything, but is it for the better or worse?


**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Outsiders or 'Love Fool' by The Cardigans.

**A/N:** This is set after my one-shot First Date which can be found in my profile. It's not essential that you read that first but it gives a bit of background information on how Two-Bit and Kathy got together ... at least in my universe, lol. Also, thanks to RileysMomma for beta-reading this and all comments are welcome :)

* * *

… _And maybe there is nothing __that I can do to make you do._

"My mom wants to meet you."

Those six simple words caused Two-Bit to damn near have a heart attack at the tender age of seventeen. He stopped, can of Bud half way to his lips and lit cigarette dangling from his fingers. His chest tightened in an unfamiliar way, and he was sure that he could hear the devil himself cackling with laughter.

"I'm sorry," he said. "What?"

Kathy gave him a sheepish smile. "She wants to meet you; tomorrow night before work."

Two-Bit stared at the cigarette and the beer as he sat a table in Buck's, trying to decide which one he needed more at that moment, before quickly swigging back the rest of his beer.

"I didn't think she even knew about me?"

Kathy shrugged, a pretty blush creeping up her face. "Well, she didn't. At least not until she found out I wasn't at Anna's the other night.

In spite of the conversation they were having, Two-Bit couldn't help but smirk at that. Just last week Kathy had spent the night with him, the two of them going way past third base for the first time … for Kathy's very first time.

"Stop it," she scolded him.

"Stop what?"

"Stop looking like that while thinking about me staying at your place."

His smirk grew. "Can't help it."

She rolled her eyes at him, and he grabbed her still mostly full beer, drinking some back quickly.

"How'd she react when she realised you spent the night with me?" he asked.

"She wasn't impressed that I lied to her," Kathy admitted. "But she didn't really say anything about the spending the night with you part."

Two-Bit sighed. "And now she wants to meet me?"

Kathy nodded. "Tomorrow night," she said, unwittingly giving him the small smile of hers he could never say no to.

He sighed again. He liked her, he liked her a lot, but something was holding him back. They had been dating for a month now, and - due to it being the middle of summer - their dates had been more frequent than they would have been had they been at school. They were free and able to go out on what would normally be school nights and do things during the days also. They had spent a lot of time together over the last month but, technically, she wasn't even officially his girl yet.

Looking at her as she grabbed her beer back and took a small drink, he wondered what his problem was and what he was waiting for. She was amazing; fun, smart, feisty and sexy as hell. He had no reason to hold back from properly making her his.

And he knew she liked him. She wouldn't have agreed to spend the night with him if she didn't, especially when he hadn't even bothered to make things official between them. Any other girl and he probably would have thought her a real tramp that she would sleep with him when no promises had been made. Particularly given that he had been her first.

But with Kathy he simply saw it for what it really was. Not her being trampy, but her liking him and trusting him a whole bunch more than anyone else he knew ever had.

"So? Will you come?"

Two-Bit grabbed the bottle back out of her hands and finished it, ignoring the way she raised her eyebrow at him for taking her drink.

"Let me think about it for a bit," he said

She nodded. "All right, you think while I go to the bathroom."

Two-Bit just nodded as she got up and watched her cute little ass as she walked away. He supposed it wouldn't hurt, meeting her mom. If she was anything like Kathy then it wouldn't be a problem at all. Sure, Kathy hadn't been all that pleased to see him pull up when he had arrived for their first date, but he had very quickly changed her mind about him.

He wondered if he would be able to charm her mom as well as he had charmed Kathy.

_At least there's no dad to stand at the door with a shotgun_, he thought wryly. Kathy's dad had died when she was three and, though he felt for her, he really was glad he would only have one parent to meet.

He was thinking about going up to grab them some more drinks when Kathy appeared by his side and smiled at him.

"So," she said again, "will you come?"

"Tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow night."

Two-Bit stared at her a moment, seeing how hopeful she looked. "You really want me to?" he asked.

She nodded. "It would mean a lot."

_It would mean a lot_. How could he say no to that?

"All right," he said, nodding slightly and regretting the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. "I'll come."

Her arms were around him and her body against him a second later, and he relished in the feel of her before registering the words she was saying.

"Really? Oh, thank you, thank you, I love you."

She froze in his arms, and his arms froze where they loosely held her. She loved him? She _loved_ him? Holy hell.

Slowly she pulled away, and instead of pulling her back to him like he usually did, his arms fell to rest at his side. She looked as though the words had just spilled from her mouth without her consent and he was sure the expression on his face mirrored hers. Wide eyes, gaping mouth, complete and utter shock.

"Oh crap," she muttered, stepping back. "I - I'm sorry, it just came out and - and … I gotta go."

Spinning, she took off for the door, not looking back once, leaving Two-Bit sitting in his seat in shock.

She fucking _loved_ him?

XXXXX

Kathy stopped running the moment she heard the door slam behind her. It was bad enough making a complete idiot out of herself in front of Two-Bit; there was no need for her to do the same in front of everyone in the parking lot.

"Jesus Christ," she muttered to herself as she made her way down the street, pushing her messy curls away from her face.

She had screwed everything up, she knew it. They had only been dating a month … they weren't even officially together yet and she was professing her freaking love for him?

"I'm such an idiot."

A car passed and honked its horn at her, but she ignored it. She knew it wasn't the safest thing to be doing - walking through the streets at night alone - but she needed to cool off and was still only a few minutes away from Buck's. If anyone pulled up next to her she could yell, scream and make it half way back to Buck's before anyone could catch her where, even in her haste to leave, she had seen Danny Harris standing outside and knew he would come at her first cry of panic.

She couldn't believe this. The three completely toxic words had been purposefully avoided during the last few weeks yet here they were, throwing themselves out of her mouth without a second thought.

They didn't need a second thought, though, she knew that. The words might have been purposely unthought-of but they were true. As much as she would like to, she couldn't deny that.

"Kathy!"

She glanced over her shoulder, already knowing the voice but having her heart leap into her throat at the sight of Two-Bit running towards her.

"Oh God," she muttered, face flushing with embarrassment as she quickened her pace.

"Stop," he said, catching up with her and taking hold of her arm to turn her to face him.

She wouldn't look at him though. It was bad enough having to stand right in front of him and act as though she didn't want to crawl under a rock and die; looking at him and seeing the unreturned feelings would be too much.

"I …" he started but trailed off, obviously not knowing what to say.

"It's alright," she said resignedly, trying to keep her voice even. "You don't have to say anything."

He was silent for a few minutes and despite what she had just told him, she really wished he would say something.

"You shouldn't have taken off like that," he said gruffly.

Kathy looked up at him and even though there was no nastiness to it and even though she had been expecting it, her heart dropped at the look in his eyes; the way he so obviously didn't feel the same way about her as she did him.

"Didn't really feel like sticking around," she said with a shrug.

He said nothing, and she had to swallow back the lump in her throat. It wasn't as if she expected him to love her back. He wasn't exactly the type to confess his love for a girl, or to even be in love with a girl. Especially a girl he had only been dating a month and wasn't even going steady with. But it still hurt.

She looked away as tears filled her eyes, and she was glad for the darkness. She was such an idiot. They weren't together; she wasn't his girlfriend. He had made her no promises of any kind during the last month, and the only sign of possible commitment he'd made was that he had only been seeing her.

That didn't mean anything though. Just because he was only dating her didn't mean that she was _his_. She didn't know what he wanted from her and was realising she had been stupid to think he would want anything more than what he had been getting.

"Did you mean it?"

His voice pulled her out of her thoughts and - glad she had managed to push back the tears - she lifted her eyes to meet his beautiful grey ones. He was looking at her with an almost completely blank expression, save for the small amount of sympathy she saw in there. She didn't want his sympathy, but any emotion was better than a completely blank look.

She nodded and sighed. "Yeah."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Shit, Kathy."

"It's o.k." she said quickly even though her heart was aching. "I know you don't feel the same, you don't have to say it."

He nodded, and they were silent again.

"Look," she said, desperate for them to get the awkwardness out of the way and have some semblance of normalcy back. "I didn't mean to scare you off, o.k.? I mean, technically, I'm not even your girlfriend, so don't feel like you have to say anything."

Two-Bit stayed silent for a while longer before finally saying something.

"I do care about you."

Kathy raised an eyebrow. _Well_, she supposed, _that's something._

Plus he had come after her which definitely said something. She figured if he really didn't want anything more than what he was getting from her wouldn't have bothered chasing after her like he had. He could get what she was giving from any other girl in Buck's without the "I love you" drama, but he had still come after her.

"So I haven't scared you off?" she asked.

He shook his head and grinned down at her. "Na. It's gonna take more than that to scare me off."

Kathy gave a small laugh and wrapped her arms around his neck as he came into kiss her. So he didn't love her; she could deal with that. It hurt - more than she would ever admit - but his admitting he cared about her was more than she had expected so she would deal with him not loving her.

"So," he said, pulling back but keeping his arms wrapped around her waist. "Tomorrow night?"

She forced a smile. If it meant pretending this whole thing had never happened for things to be almost normal between them, then so be it.

"Tomorrow night."

XXXXX

Kathy heard the footsteps on the porch behind her and knew what was coming. She was so embarrassed this was happening; her mom being so nice about it just made it worse. Putting on a brave face, she turned to find her mother looking down at her with a small smile.

"I hate to say it," her mom began, "but I have to leave in ten minutes."

Kathy stood. "I'm real sorry," she muttered as she stood up. "He must be running late or something."

Her mom nodded and Kathy hated that they both knew it was the 'or something' she had mentioned. Two-Bit was late to pick her up almost every time they went out, and she had come to get used to it, but almost two hours behind schedule wasn't late … it was not coming.

Kathy sat back on the porch as her mom headed inside. _Probably to get her keys and leave,_ she thought to herself and was even a little pleased. Should Two-Bit actually decide to turn up anytime soon, as unlikely as it was, Kathy hated the idea that her mom would be around to watch them fight.

"I gotta get going," her mom said, coming back out, keys in hand. "You going to be alright?"

Kathy looked up and nodded. "I'll be fine," she said.

"Call me at the restaurant if you need anything."

"I will," Kathy assured.

Her mom nodded and headed over to the car to leave for work, and Kathy sighed. She couldn't freaking believe it. Two-Bit was hardly reliable, but she had really thought he would make a point of actually trying to be on time that night. He was supposed to meet her mom for crying out loud. If that didn't call for showing up on time, she didn't know what did.

She supposed she should just be glad he didn't turn up drunk. If she thought about it, that would be more expected than his disappearing act, but her mother would probably never let her see him again if that had happened.

Not that she was sure she even wanted to see him again.

She knew exactly why he wasn't there, too. It was so obvious that the fact that she hadn't been expecting it was a surprise. It hurt, and she had been pushing back tears since she had realised he wouldn't be turning up, but she knew what was going on.

She had told him she loved him and now he was freaking out. She was sure of it. She probably should have given him the benefit of the doubt but if there had been some kind of accident or if he had been held up somehow, she would have heard about it by now. He was two hours late after all.

Scowling into what was very quickly becoming the darkening sky, she stood and ran a hand through her curls. She was an idiot; it was as simple as that. If he had been telling the truth last night about not being scared off, he had obviously changed his mind, and she should have figured that out much earlier.

If he had been telling the truth about caring about her, he would have made a point of turning up like he had promised.

She couldn't believe this. After everything that had happened - all the time they had spent together, and what she had said last night - she deserved more than this. She had lost her virginity to him, for Christ's sake, and didn't deserve to be stood up like this.

Heading inside, she decided against sitting around waiting for whatever was going to happen. She doubted he would show, and she _knew_ she wasn't going to put up with it. She deserved better, even if she had scared him off by her completely stupid declaration on love.

XXXXX

Two-Bit took a drag of his smoke and grinned at Mary-Louise Hemsworth as she slid a hand up and down his thigh. She was a cute little thing; blonde hair - blue eyes and a killer rack - basically everything he liked in a girl.

But he wasn't feeling what he should be feeling when a pretty girl was running her hand up and down his thigh, getting that little bit higher with each upward movement. He wasn't feeling turned on, he wasn't feeling any thrill of excitement, he wasn't feeling too great at all.

He knew exactly why but refused to admit it to anyone, especially himself. Considering heading to the bar to grab a drink, he took Mary Louise's hand off of his leg and stood up. He hadn't had a drink all night, contrary to popular belief. He had been acting a bit drunk all night to ease his own tension but was stone cold sober, had made a point of being so during the time he had still been planning on going to Kathy's. He didn't know why his plan to go over there had changed and his drinking plans for the night hadn't, but he couldn't be bothered trying to figure that one out.

He was having too much trouble trying to work out why he hadn't gone to Kathy's.

He was back at the small table a few minutes later, can of beer in hand and Mary-Louise giving him one hell of a seductive look. He grinned back and slid his arm around her shoulders as he sat down, hoping she might be able to ease the headache his thoughts were giving him.

"I was thinking," Mary-Louise said, leaning in to speak against his ear. "Maybe we could head upstairs for a while."

Two-Bit forced a smirk and grabbed his beer, glancing up in time to see a pair of blue eyes staring at him in shock. Chest tightening in a way that had become too familiar in the last twenty-four hours, he watched calmly as Kathy did her best to wipe any emotion off of her face and walk out the door.

It took a good few minutes for his brain and heart to kick into gear and then he was up in a flash. He pushed the door open and took off out of it, glancing in every direction as he made his way to the road before finally spotting a flash of blonde in the night he went left, same as he had done the night before.

"Kathy!" he called when he had almost caught up to her.

She stopped and whirled around to face him just as he reached her, and he hated the hurt look on her face.

"What the hell is your problem?" she asked immediately.

"I'm sorry," he said, not knowing what else to say.

"You're sorry? Jeez, Two-Bit, that really makes up for everything," she said, rolling her eyes. "God, I can't believe what an idiot I am."

She went to turn and walk away again, but he grabbed a hold of her wrist.

"Let me go," she said.

"No."

She tried to pull out of his grasp, but he just tightened his grip. "Let me go," she said. "You're hurting me." She sounded near tears, and it caused Two-Bit's chest to clench again.

He let go. Emotionally hurting her like he knew he had done was one thing; physically hurting her was another thing all together that he would never allow himself to do.

"Please, Beautiful, let me explain," he said.

"Don't call me that,' she snapped. "There's nothing to explain anyway. Instead of coming around to meet my mom tonight like you said you would, you came to Buck's, got drunk and flirted with someone else."

He didn't say anything. Technically he hadn't gotten drunk, but the rest was true and so bad that it wiped out the not being drunk part.

She shook her head and narrowed her eyes. "And that's all I know of," she continued. "For all I know you did plenty more than just flirt -"

"No!" he interrupted. "Nothing happened with her. I swear."

She snorted. "Your word doesn't mean a hell of a lot anymore." She turned her back on him and began walking again. "Just leave me alone. I don't want to see you anymore."

He stood and watched her walk down the street for a few seconds before realising what he had to do. He couldn't hold back from her anymore, couldn't hold back from himself, not if he wanted to keep her.

"Kathy, wait," he said. "Please."

"What's the point?" she asked, turning to face him where she stood. "I made my feelings pretty damn clear last night and you've done the same tonight. Way to go."

She turned again and Two-Bit swore quietly to himself before calling back out to her.

"Damn it, Kathy. Just stop and listen to me."

"Why should I?" she yelled angrily but still turned.

"Because I love you," he yelled right back.

All he could hear was his heart thumping in his chest and was sure Kathy, everyone at Buck's and the whole of Tulsa would be able to hear it too. He couldn't believe what he had said. He could believe that it was true, he just couldn't believe he had actually said it.

"You're lying," she said in a small voice.

He took a step forward. "I ain't lying."

"You're drunk."

"I ain't drunk either," he said.

She was silent, and he realised he would have to keep talking if he wanted to keep her.

"I ain't big on speeches, Kathy," he said. "As much as I like to talk, this ain't my thing, and after tonight I don't know if I'll ever say it again, but it's true."

She frowned a little, and he stepped forward again.

"Why didn't you say anything last night?" she asked.

"Because I didn't even realise it until just now. It took you about to leave for me to stop pushing back what we were and appreciate what you meant to me."

She pushed her hair back with both hands. "Shit."

He ventured a few more steps forward until he was standing two feet from her.

"I ain't lying," he said again.

She looked up at him. "Nothing happened with that girl?"

"I didn't even kiss her," he promised.

She gave him a searching look. "I ain't gonna be just some girl anymore, Two-Bit."

He gave her a grin and took her hand in his. "Na," he said, "you're gonna be my girl."


End file.
